Statistics on the Activities of U.S. Affiliates of Foreign Multinational Enterprises Now Available for 2015; Revised Data Available for 2014

Statistics detailing the activities of U.S. affiliates of foreign multinational enterprises (MNEs) are now available from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. The statistics, which provide new data for 2015, as well as revised data for 2014, offer details on the activities of U.S. affiliates of foreign MNEs, including their employment and compensation, sales, value added, capital expenditures, trade in goods, and expenditures for research and development.

Here are some highlights from the statistics:

The current-dollar value added of majority-owned U.S. affiliates, a measure of their direct contribution to U.S. gross domestic product, totaled $894.5 billion in 2015. That’s an increase of $10.9 billion, or 1.2 percent, from 2014. U.S. affiliates accounted for 6.4 percent of total U.S. private industry value added in 2015, compared with 6.5 percent in 2013 and 2014.

Affiliates with ultimate beneficial owners in seven countries— the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, France, Canada, Switzerland, and the Netherlands —accounted for nearly three-fourths of the value added by all majority-owned U.S. affiliates in 2015.

Majority-owned U.S. affiliates employed 6.8 million workers, up 3.1 percent in 2015, following a 7.0 percent increase in 2014. U.S. affiliates accounted for 5.5 percent of all U.S. private industry employment, up from 5.4 percent in 2014.

The states with the largest shares of total private industry employment accounted for by U.S. affiliates in 2015 were New Jersey (8.1 percent), South Carolina (8.0 percent), and New Hampshire (7.7 percent).

Exports of goods by affiliates decreased in 2015 by $70.3 billion, or 16.6 percent, and imports decreased by $51.2 billion, or 7.2 percent.

Research and development performed by affiliates totaled $56.7 billion in 2015, a 0.4 percent decrease from 2014.